To function optimally, democracy needs an informed electorate. I am so strongly persuaded of this that when William H. "Bill" Frist, MD, the junior senator from Tennessee, solicited me for financial support for his reelection campaign, I wrote to him asking that he inform me of his position regarding tobacco- and gun-control legislation. I also asked what financial support he may have received from the tobacco industry and from the National Rifle Association. Dr Frist did not answer my letter. Subsequently, a second solicitation came and I wrote Dr Frist once more. Again, he did not answer. At that time, I knew that he was the only physician member of the US Senate and that he was certified by the Board of Thoracic Surgery.